New Ultrasound Therapy for Tennis Elbow.

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Works for Other Ligament, Tendon Injuries, Too

Dec. 6, 2002 (Chicago) -- From tennis elbow to jumper's knee, a new ultrasound needle treatment reduced pain and restored function in 65% of patients treated, according to researchers at a meeting of specialists. And the best part is that it worked in patients who had already failed treatment with traditional measures.

For years doctors have been injecting injured elbows and knees with pain-numbing drugs or anti-inflammatory steroids to treat minor tears, says Levon N. Nazarian, MD, professor of radiology, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

"But we are combining ultrasound with needle therapy so that the needle is carefully guided to the point of injury," he says. He presented the study at the 88th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

Standard "needle therapy" either draws fluid out of a joint or injects something into the injured joint. But the ultrasound-guided needle therapy allows the doctor to use the needle as a very tiny surgical instrument to break up scars. In addition, the needle can poke holes in an injured ligament -- this allows collagen to build in the area to replace the damaged tissue, Nazarian says.

All patients are initially injected with a pain-numbing drug into the injured area. This allows the doctor to determine by ultrasound if the perceived abnormality is the actual cause of the patient's pain.

If the pain disappears after numbing the area, "we know we are on the right track," says Nazarian. After the anesthesia is injected, the patient may be treated with just "needle surgery" or may receive anti-inflammatory steroid injections or additional pain-numbing medication.

"The advantage to this procedure is that it is so minimally invasive that restoration of function is very rapid, much more so than even arthroscopic surgery," says Nazarian.

This also offers a surgical option for patients who have "tears or abnormalities that are so small that they cannot be fixed by surgeons and yet they are not responding to conservative treatment of rest, ice, and support."

The 273 patients in Nazarian's study ranged in age from 13 to 82. Patients had a variety of conditions, including tendon tear, muscle tear, bursitis, tenosynovitis, ligament injury, and plantar fasciitis -- all had failed conservative treatment.